Um, Stu, apologies for being a bit self-centred here, and maybe a bit insensitive in the circumstances, but have you managed to cover off my Caeconroi proxy BaM yet please? You've plenty on your plate so fully understand if not. I'll forgive not having porridge for breakfast if that wasn't possible. Even the lie-in - it's tough times.

If not, I think I've sorted out a spot quite close by and will give it a whirl tonight.

Ta, 'Reg'

"There comes a time in your life Ponsonby, when you think: 'My God, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

"It is in the petty details, not in the great results, that the interest of existence lies" - JKJ

OK, all set. But I really do feel rather uneasy about this. Just doesn't seem right to be 'having fun' when there's a lot of people definitely having no fun at all. Well I'll just have to crack on in my usual jocular style but please note looks can be deceiving. Compliments to Shaf, Luke, Chew etc and everyone out there on the front-line. Once I'm convinced I've had the bug I need to get out there with this volunteer thing. Hated Camoron's 'big society' bollocks (otherwise known as "we're using all the money to pay bungs to our housebuilding donors so you suckers will have to take up the slack unpaid") ((surely we were told there was no such thing as BigSoc 20 years before...)) but I think this might be an exception....

Still, BaM is BaM so....

Bike all ready..... ( no bike? not a BaM then! )

After considerable thought I've chosen a spot quite nearby, with which I'm pretty familiar. It's very flat, plenty of bushes for cover as it's rather too close to a load of buildings for comfort, and has a useful pond nearby so a filter will come in handy for morning porridge/ovaltine. Let's see how we get on... 13c earlier but claims 0c overnight....

Last edited by RIP on Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:11 pm, edited 5 times in total.

"There comes a time in your life Ponsonby, when you think: 'My God, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

"It is in the petty details, not in the great results, that the interest of existence lies" - JKJ

En route now and going OK so far. Nobody around. Stopped for a moment to get my bearings. Not bothered with a map - it's pretty much committed to memory this one.

The track here is in good nick considering recent wet weather. There's a lot of frogs and toads though so am having to swerve around a bit to avoid the poor things ( was reading about how they morph from tadpoles - effectively recycling their own tails to turn into legs etc. Clever things enzymes ). Snails too, and I nearly got my head ripped off by an old washing line that some idiot had strung across the track - shades of that razorwire-across-trailcentre-singletrack nastiness a while ago.

Anyway... nearly at the spot so I'll check back in later....

"There comes a time in your life Ponsonby, when you think: 'My God, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

"It is in the petty details, not in the great results, that the interest of existence lies" - JKJ

Managed to find the spot, and tarp erected quickly. Thought I'd deploy the S2S Nano Bugnet thingy as well for a laugh. Sits really well over/under the mat with the cord tightened. Nice evening out here actually, albeit somewhat chilly. My tiny maxmin thermometer says 1c but I can't see it properly so who knows.

Numbers? Heights... speeds... miles.... I don't do 'em as you know, of little interest, but in this instance I'll make an exception. As ever, no gizmos, so I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way... now where's my tape measure.... back in a sec.....

Last edited by RIP on Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:13 pm, edited 3 times in total.

"There comes a time in your life Ponsonby, when you think: 'My God, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

"It is in the petty details, not in the great results, that the interest of existence lies" - JKJ

Damn. I knew I should have brought the map after all. I'm in my own back garden. What a pathetic bit of navigation. Ah well, just have to make the best of it. Might even be brought breakfast in bed. And I do believe it's my shortest-ever BaM ride by a considerable margin so it's turning out to be a memorable 50th after all.

Well done Reg and happy 50th you are absolutely right it is in the small details .

I will probably try a similar BAM tonight just moved into a new house and the garden doesn't have the kind of tree cover you were able to take advantage of , should provide a bit of entertainment for the neighbours at least .

Ta. The Nanonet certainly discouraged the slugs. It felt quite strange waking up without one perched on the end of my nose. Not sure how it would work with airborne teeth. Surely you'd trap a load in there with you unless you calculated some extremely complicated mat/bag/net moves. I'm thinking along the lines of that puzzle with three posts, a few decreasing-sized circles mounted on one of them, and having to transfer them all to another post one by one but never having a bigger circle on top of a smaller one. Bag out, net up, mat somewhere else, net onto mat, bag... etc etc.

"There comes a time in your life Ponsonby, when you think: 'My God, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

"It is in the petty details, not in the great results, that the interest of existence lies" - JKJ